Premium vs. Vista Suites on Coral & Island Princess

[Tom O.]

I am trying to assist someone in choosing between a Vista (VS) and Premium (PS) suite on the Island Princess. I don't have any experience with suites, being perpetually on a limited budget.

What are the differences between these suites? According to the Princess website they are both the same size (470 sq. ft.). The PS suite costs more, but the difference is very little. Is there a different layout? Different furniture?

Anyone been in both?

Any help would be appreciated.

[critterchick]

I think the interior layouts are identical. We were in a PS on Caribe Deck (IP), and had a half-covered balcony. The VS suites on Dolphin Deck had fully covered balconies. Here's a link to my pictures:

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/550701530KuleXj

 

The layouts were similar to the minisuites on a Sun Class ship or a VS on a Grand Class. The bedroom/closet/vanity area was awkward - it seemed that DH & I were tripping over each other a lot more than we did in a minisuite.

 

The balcony furniture was old plastic, not the lovely teak you find on the other ships. We had to flip the cushions over as they were pretty dirty.

 

I found the Island to be very bouncy in rough water, much more so than a Grand Class ship, so I would look at the midships PS cabins (I think those are on Dolphin Deck, too) for extra stability. If that's not an issue, one very nice thing about the Caribe Deck is that there is a nice public aft deck for lounging and wake viewing, which is one of my favorite things to do.

[Tom O.]

Thank you Jean for your advice and the link to your nice pictures. They made me want to save my pennys to move up to a suite some day!

[critterchick]

You're more than welcome, Tom!

 

We're not usually full suite people, but got a screaming deal on this one - it was only $100 more pp than the minis - I think somebody at Princess had mispriced them. They changed the itinerary & jacked the price up by $500pp, but backed down from that in relatively short order. We're not likely to see the inside of a full suite again absent a visit from the upgrade fairy.